Sunday, July 18, 2010

Towns and villages of all around the world name streets after geographical locations, trades or prominent figures in the political, economical, cultural, religious or military history of the town or country. The selection criteria differ according to the place and to the times, and sensitivities vary from one country to another. This is obvious when travelling around Northern European countries, where streets are usually named after poets, scientists or musicians. In Spain, streets are more commonly named after military or religious people. However, the common feature in most towns and villages worldwide is that men’s names prevail over women’s names.
For instance, in Barcelona, the official Dictionary of Street Names includes 1,907 streets named after men and only 306 streets named after women. That means a ratio of one woman per six and a half men.
Moreover, in the last few years, 317 new street names have been added: one quarter has been named after men and a quarter after women. The rest are geographical locations (towns, countries, etc.). At this rate, changing ratios will take a couple of centuries more.